Game Design & Production
Game designers are the visionaries and evangelists for a game development project. They thrive on new ideas and are always thinking about how users will interact and enjoy the experience that they’ve created. A great game designer possesses a combination of technical knowledge, artistic skill and most importantly, the ability to communicate and understand people.
Game designers spend significant amounts of time writing detailed documents specifying game mechanics, environments, playable characters and the game’s nemesis. This detail extends right down to how a particular item might behave, be animated and sound.
Game Design is a two year, full-time course written by experienced game designers, in consultation with local and international studios, to produce innovative graduates who will lead the next generation of game development.
Course Content
Stage One
The first year of the course begins by covering grounding in terminology and mechanics and roles of designer. Students will work on visualising ideas, prototyping, learning the fundamentals of 3D content creation and game programming as well as designing game levels, creating user interfaces and crafting game play experiences.
Towards the end of the year, game design students will work with programming students to develop projects with game design, production and quality assurance.
Stage Two
Second year focuses on the psychology of games, market research, exploring thinking and decision making processes along with understanding the producer’s role in managing and coordinating game projects. Students will be making more game prototypes around a range of different game types, genres and platforms.
During the major game project, game design students will collaborate with game art and game programming students to create an innovative original game to showcase their capabilities.
Students graduate at the end of Year 2 with an extensive portfolio with several games they have designed and produced, mechanical prototypes, large amounts of documented design ideas expressed in visual and written form.
Major Game Project
In second year of this course game design students will work together with game art and game programming students in development teams to design and produce a playable game. This project closely mirrors the real-world production cycle in an industry development studio, covering the entire process from pitching the game idea, through writing game design documents, evaluating technical requirements, managing workload, meeting deadlines, delivering commercial quality artwork and animation, bug-fixing, QA testing and market analysis of the game.
Subjects you will study
Stage One
- Introduction to Game Design
- Health and Safety in the Office
- Level Design Fundamentals
- Design Prototyping Fundamentals
- Narrative Design
- Testing and Quality Assurance
- Production Planning
- Production
Software You Will USe
Students utilize industry standard software and resources such as:
- Unity, Unreal Engine, Twine, GameMaker — Game engine and development frameworks
- Maya — 3D game asset creation
- Perforce, Sourcetree — Project management and version control
- Adobe Photoshop — Visualisation
- Visual Studio, MonoDevelop — Programming tools
- Microsoft Office Package
Your Career Opportunities
- Game Designer
- System Designer
- Narrative Designer
- Level Designer
- UI Designer
Graduates can be found working in some of the worlds leading games studios, independent games studios and also creating their own digital content through the AIE incubator.
Game design graduates are also sought after in the growing field of ‘gamification’ as well as managing interactive initiatives for training, simulation, customer engagement and advertising.
Entry Requirements
Entry for this course is based on:
- Interview - In the interview we are assessing your suitability for the course including any specific requirements you may have.
- Portfolio - we are looking for evidence of creativity which is demonstrated through a collection of works in a medium of your choosing.
- Copy of your Year 12 Certificate OR by achieving an Exit Level 3 score within the Australian Core Skills Framework assessments in reading and numeracy.
An Exit Level 3 score within the Australian Core Skills Framework assessments in reading and numeracy will show that you have the capability to be successful in this course. AIE can assist you with this assessment process if required and results will be reported to you as soon as practicable. As per the Department of Education and Training guidelines, assessment results are also available to the Department Secretary on request.
For more information please see our interview and portfolio page
Bachelor of Game Development
The Academy of Interactive Entertainment Ltd (AIE) has launched AIE Institute, an industry-leading higher education provider for Australia’s future game artists, designers and programmers.
AIE Graduates from the Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development 10702NAT can continue their studies into AIE Institute's Bachelor of Game Development which has majors in game art, game design and game programming.

State Funding
Our Fees
Maximum tuition fees for the intake commencing February and July 2023
Game Design and Production | Tuition Fee | |
---|---|---|
Year 1 | CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media (2023) | $16,750 |
delivered in conjunction with | ||
CUA51120 Diploma of Visual Arts (2023) | $16,150 | |
Year 2 |
10702NAT Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development (2024)
|
$17,300 |
Total Tuition Fee | $50,200 |
The VET Student Loans program allows eligible students enrolled in AIE's approved Diploma, Advanced Diploma and Graduate Diploma courses to defer part of the cost of their tuition fees. Courses are subject to maximum loan caps and students will be required to pay any fee over and above that cap. For more information visit our VET Student Loans page.
Please note:
- VET Student Loans will not be approved for students who do not meet eligibility requirements.
- A VET student loan gives rise to a HELP debt that continues to be a debt due to the Commonwealth until it is repaid.
- On successful completion of stage 1, students will be awarded recognition of prior learning or credit transfer towards Stage 2 of the Advanced Diploma.
For more information on our tuition fees, please visit our FEES page
To see our international fees, please visit our FEES page
STUDY MODE OPTIONS: CAMPUS | ONLINE | EVENINGS
Students can study this program in the following modes:
Study Mode | Campus | Day and times | Hours per week |
---|---|---|---|
Face to Face | AIE Campus in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra or Adelaide | Week days, 9am to 5pm | 20 hours (full-time) |
Online Day-time | AIE Online Campus | Week days, 9am to 5pm AEST | 20 hours (full-time) |
Online Evenings | AIE Online Campus | Week nights, 5pm to 9pm AEST | 20 hours (full-time) |
Online Part-time | AIE Online Campus | Week nights, 5pm to 9pm AEST | Flexible, between 4 - 20 hours |
NATIONALLY-ACCREDITED QUALIFICATIONS
This two-year, full-time program has been developed with industry and is delivered through the following qualifications:Game Design | Cricos | |
---|---|---|
Year 1 | CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media | 106064C |
delivered in conjunction with | ||
CUA51120 Diploma of Visual Arts | 106067M | |
Year 2 | 10702NAT Advanced Diploma of Professional Game Development | 098405B |
Meet The Teachers

Student Work

Student Work

Game Design News
Upcoming EventsIndustry Experience DayAIE’s Industry Experience Days are a great opportunity for students in Years 10, 11 and 12 to learn about the local and international game development, 3D animation and visual effects industries. |